The Chicago Bulls lost to the Denver Nuggets by the slimmest of margins last night, losing 90-89 in heart breaking fashion.

With 0.6 seconds left in the game, and the game tied at 89, Chauncey Billups stepped up to the free throw line. He hit the first free throw to give the Nuggets a one point lead, and purposefully missed the second free throw. Joakim Noah snatched up the rebound and and called a timeout, leaving the Bulls with 0.3 seconds left in the game.

The Bulls inbounded the ball to Brad Miller, who was cutting away from the basket. Miller flicked up a shot, and it was good. The Bulls and the United Center erupted into celebration. As the shot was at the end of regulation, the referees were required to review the play. Upon the review, the referees overturned the call, saying that Miller did not get the shot off on time.

It is hard to get too upset over this, as logically, there is no way that Miller got that shot off in less than 0.3 seconds. However, according to the NBA rules, the Bulls should have won last night’s game, as when the evidence is inconclusive, the ruling on the court is supposed to be upheld. There was no way, at least from the camera angles we saw (which are supposed to be the same one’s that the referees see) that they could conclude whether or not the ball was out of Miller’s hands.

I am issuing a challenge to the NBA. Upload this play to the video rule book, and explain the conclusive piece of evidence in your replays that led to this call being overturned. Also, while you’re at it, upload the video Rajon Rondo’s foul in the playoffs, and explain why that is a hard foul that’s not flagrant.

While the loss was disappointing, there were some positives tonight, in particular, Derrick Rose finally had a good all around game. Rose finished with 22 points on 10-17 shooting and 5 assists. The problem of course is that this is his best game of the season. Many expected him to be putting up these types of performances on a nightly basis, and it just hasn’t happened. Hopefully Rose can use this game as a jumping off point for this season.

Joakim Noah continued his defensive dominance, putting up a 12 point, 21 rebound, and 3 block performance.

Luol Deng played well, finishing with 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. In this game, Deng actually scored the ball efficiently. The most impressive part about Deng’s game was the way he played defensively, holding Carmelo Anthony to 20 points, his lowest output of the season, on an inefficient 42.9 TS%.

Taj Gibson was solid, putting up 11 points and grabbing 6 rebounds. He was active on defense, and grabbed 3 steals.

The Bulls backcourt struggles continued, this game being the struggling play of John Salmons and Kirk Hinrich. Salmons finished with 11 points on 3-13 shooting and Hinrich finished with 6 points on 3-10 shooting, 4 assists, and 3 turnovers.

Both Nene Hilario and Kenyon Martin put up double doubles for the Nuggets. Nene had 11 points and 12 rebounds, while Martin finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Chauncey Billups was solid as usual, finishing with 17 points and 6 assists.

Earl Smith struggled for the Nuggets, scoring only 5 points on 1-9 shooting.

George Karl passed up Red Auerbach, to move into 8th place on the all time wins list for coaches, winning his 939th game.

With the loss, the Bulls fall to 4-3.

The Chicago Bulls and Ben Gordon experienced a bit of deja vu tonight.

Last year, after making a big trade at the deadline, the Bulls played the Nuggets at the United Center and beat them down.  This year, the same thing, as the Bulls defeated the Denver Nuggets 116 to 99.

Last year, Ben Gordon scored 37 points in the post deadline game against the Nuggets.  This year?  Ben Gordon also had 37 points.

The game didn’t look like it was going to be a Bulls victory at the start.  Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah were playing absolutely no interior or help defense.  At one point Chauncey Billups put one in close as Tyrus Thomas stood by idly.

Thomas and Noah were obviously worried about foul trouble.  The Bulls only had eight players suit up tonight, having Lindsey Hunter, Kirk Hinrich, and Aaron Gray as the only options in the game.  It was really a 7 man rotation, as Lindsey Hunter only played 1:07 in the game.  With only Gray backing them up, Thomas and Noah were playing no defense to avoid foul trouble.

But then the big man duo started playing defense, and it was good defense.  Nene Hilario scorched the Bulls, making his first eight shots for 16 points.  After that?  He had 3 points on 1-9 shooting.  Kenyon Martin had some nice baskets in the first half, but left the game at halftime with backspasms, which helped the Bulls greatly.

With the young bigs holding it down inside, Ben Gordon started making some big shots.  First in the second quarter to get the Bulls bakc into the game, and then had a monster third quarter to give the Bulls a solid lead.  When Ben Gordon rested early in the fourth, the Nuggets were able to tie the game at 83.  From there, Gordon came in, and the Bulls went on a 33 to 16 run in the last 9:27 to run to victory.

Ben Gordon was terrific tonight.  He finished the game with a season high 37 points.  He was great shooting the ball, going 4-7 from three point land.  He scored on a lot of fastbreak layups.  Gordon has really developed into one of the best fastbreak players in the NBA this past season.

Gordon was joined by Kirk Hinrich for the fourth quarter, as Vinny Del Negro benched the rookie, Derrick Rose, in favor of the veteran backcourt.  Rose was having a terrible game.  He just doesn’t understand where he needs to be on defense.  Billups realized this, and picked apart Rose for an easy 25 points.

Kirk Hinrich was good tonight, scoring 9 points and passing for 8 assists.  The big difference Hinrich made was playing good defense on Billups in the fourth.

Tyrus Thomas was phenomenal tonight, outside of the beginning of the game.  Thomas finished the game with 21 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 3 steals.  What more can you ask out of your power forward?  If Thomas keeps up his great February play, he will vindicate Paxson’s selection of Thomas over LaMarcus Aldridge in the 2006 NBA Draft.

Luol Deng was very good tonight as well.  He had 22 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 steals.  He started out the game hot, and then disappeared for two quarters, and then reemerged in the fourth.  It’s alwas nice to see Deng making some important shots in the fourth, after he had been so invisible in the fourth for so many years.

The most important aspect of Deng’s game tonight was his defense.  He played good defense, holding Carmelo Anthony, who was slightly banged up, to 12 points on 5-18 shooting.  When Anthony only scores 12 points on 5-18 shooting, the Nuggets are usually going to lose that ball game.

Joakim Noah added in 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks for the Bulls.  Aaron Gray had 4 points, including one basket on a thunderous dunk.

Linas Kleiza had 16 points for the Nuggets.

I think not having Andres Nocioni is really going to help the Bulls.  Nocioni really had become an on the court cancer.  He might have been a great locker room guy, but what he did on the court was an abomination.  This might be a similar situation to 06-07.  In 06-07 the Bulls went on their big run to finish the season, and almost win 50 games after Nocioni went out with his plantar fascitis.  Will the Bulls go o na similar run this year without Nocioni?  Only time will tell.

This team is beginning to look more and more like the vintage Scott Skiles Bulls.  Perhaps no one will ever find out the reasons for the turnaround, but it’s happening, and that’s all that matters.  The Bulls are looking like a dangerous team heading into the playoffs.  Doing what they are right now is not enough to make them one of the top teams in the East like it was in 06-07.  But it could be enough to make the Bulls a team that the big teams will want to avoid in the first round come playoff time.

With the win, the Bulls improve to 25-30 on the season.  With a Bucks loss against Cleveland tonight, the Bulls are only 0.5 games out of the eighth seed.  But there is no reason for the Bulls to set their sights on just the eigth seed.  The Bulls have a cupcake schedule to end the season, so they should conceivably go on a run with the way they’re playing.  The Bulls are only 3.0 games behind Philadelphia and Detroit for the 7th and 6th seeds, 4.0 games behind Miami for the 5th seed, and 7.5 games behind Atlanta for the 4th seed.

The Hawks are probably a little out of reach for the Bulls, but the fifth seed is definitely attainable.  The Bulls have 2 more games against the Heat this season, and they can help their case by winning both of them.  If the Bulls can get in that fourth vs. fifth matchup, they might just be able to find themselves back in the second round of the playoffs.

Tonight was a good win against a top Western Conference team, with our roster depleted.  Easily the best Bulls win of the season.

In 2006, the Chicago Bulls stole away Ben Wallace from the Detroit Pistons. There weren’t any early rumors saying that the Bulls would pursue Wallace, but there were rumblings from fans that it would make sense.

Could Ben Gordon become part of Detroit basketball tradition? (photo by femaletrumpet02 on Flickr)

This time, the roles are reversed. The Detroit Pistons are the team with cap space and the Bulls are the team with a Ben hitting free agency. That is, Ben Gordon, the Chicago Bulls leading scorer, who will become an unrestricted free agent this summer after the Bulls failed to re-sign him two summers in a row. Could the Pistons sign Ben Gordon? Pistons beat writer A. Sherrod Blakely thinks they can.

Blakely appeared on The Huge Show to talk about the Detroit Pistons and the trade deadline. When asked about what players the Pistons could bring in within the next year and a half, Blakely had this to say:

“The more I watch him play, the more I could see Detroit making a run for him this summer, and that’s Ben Gordon of Chicago. Ben Gordon, if you look at the guys Joe Dumars has brought to Detroit, who’ve done well, they’ve been in their mid twenties, they haven’t really had the kind of success that maybe their talent might suggest they have, and they really are in need of a new home, an new location, and they seem to thrive in Detroit. I definitely could see Ben Gordon being one of those guys that Joe Dumars and his staff targets this summer and mak a really strong push for.”

One of these players is Chauncey Billups, who is now with the Denver Nuggets. In his five seasons before coming to the Pistons, Billups averaged 11.3 PPG and 4.2 APG, and did not look like much of a point guard. Billups, who was taken third overall just like Gordon, came to Detroit and resurrected his career.

Could Ben Gordon do the same, and fill the void that was created when the Pistons traded Chauncey Billups? Ben Gordon, who is averaging 18.3 PPG 3.0 APG in his first five years in the league, is obviously doing much better than Billups did, but also isn’t looking like much of a point guard. Gordon recently told Jillian Jesk of Mouthpiecesports.com, that he would rather be a point guard than a shooting guard. Could Ben Gordon learn to run an NBA team from the point guard position, just like Billups did prior to him in Detroit?

Today, with the trade for Tyson Chandler, the Oklahoma City Thunder effectively took themselves out of the Ben Gordon sweepstakes. Unfortunately, it looks like a new team, the Detroit Pistons, who no one thought of as a potential landing spot for Gordon because of Rodney Stuckey, may be entering the Ben Gordon sweepstakes. Detroit has a ton of cap space this summer, and if they truly are interested in Ben Gordon, then the Bulls are going to be in a world of hurt, either talent wise from losing Gordon to a division rival or financially, for ponying up to keep Gordon.

From Sam Smith’s blog on Bulls.com:

It goes back to this preseason when the Bulls, Wizards, Nuggets and Clippers were in talks for a massive player deal. Those rarely come to fruition because of so many moving parts, though sources say this one was getting serious before Hughes got hurt and then Kirk Hinrich. I usually don’t pay much attention to these scenarios since GM’s talk all the time and come up with some crazier stuff than my e-mailers. And presumably everything has changed since the Nuggets later dealt for Chauncey Billups and the Clippers for Zach Randolph. I’ve heard different versions of this, but the Bulls supposedly were getting Chris Kaman and Antonio Daniels after everything settled. Who knows how close it ever was. But despite what the Clippers have been saying, they have had long interest in dealing Kaman, now out two weeks. And I’d assume especially now with Randolph playing well with Marcus Camby.

The Bulls should continue to pursue Chris Kaman. Kaman is averaging 13.9 PPG 9.4 RPG 1.9 BPG and 1.9 APG so far this year. I still do not see why the Clippers are intent on trading Kaman, but if they want to be foolish, Paxson should pounce on the opportunity to get a good center.

Paxson should start by trying to trade for Kaman using Hinrich, Nocioni, and the young bigs. But if the Clippers don’t bite at that, Paxson should not hesitate at swapping Luol Deng for Chris Kaman. The Bulls could easily reach a trade involving Deng, despite his BYC status, by using Drew Gooden as the filler. Trades involving Tyrus Thomas as the filler are also possibly, but much harder to use, and involves exploiting a loophole in the CBA involving the minimum salary trade exception. Luol Deng and Tyrus Thomas for Chris Kaman and Brian Skinner would be an example of this.

By swapping Deng for Kaman, we get a better player at a more important position given the construct of our team, while doing no damage to our 2010 plans. If we still are unable to find a taker for Kirk Hinrich or Andres Nocioni by the start of 2009 free agency, we can turn our attention away from 2010 and focus on building through 2009 free agency and leveraging the contract of Larry Hughes.

In this scenario, we would also be able to re-sign Drew Gooden with no concerns of it messing up our 2010 plan. Losing Deng would not be that painful, as Shawn Marion and Ron Artest are likely to be available for the MLE this summer. Creating a starting lineup of Derrick Rose, Ben Gordon, Shawn Marion, Drew Gooden, and Chris Kaman would not be too bad of an alternative plan to 2010. We would have competent players at all positions.

Hopefully the Clippers remain intent on trading Chris Kaman and the Bulls get lucky and land him. He would be a great addition for this team.

In an interview with Chuck Swirsky, Lindsey Hunter described Derrick Rose’s upside as being endless.

“He is one of those special talents. He posesses that ‘it’ factor, that a kid can raise his level. I think it’s been proven time and time again with him, he raises his level to the level of the competition, and not many young guys can do that. I think he has an endless upside, and that’s scary.”

Hunter, when signed by the Bulls, was expected to receive minimal playing time, with his main task being the education of rookie point guard, Derrick Rose.

Hunter has experience playing with some of the best guards of the league. He played with Sam Cassell in Milwaukee and Chauncey Billups in Detroit. Hunter played with Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars in his first year in the league, although both players were in the twilights of their career at that point.

That rookie season, where Hunter’s Pistons went 20-62, was a growing up experience for Hunter. It helped Hunter understand the business and perseverance aspect of the NBA. Rose will need perservarance to survive the Bulls’ current roster that lacks talent in the front court as a result of business decisions by Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf.

“It was a humbling experience,” Hunter said, “Coming out of college most of the guys that make it to the league, you won your last year in college, you had a great senior year.”

Hunter also had some advice that appeared to be targeted at the Bulls other talented young guard, Ben Gordon.

“It will always be a game and I tell young kids that to this day. The business part will take care of itself and that’s off the court issues, and you try to keep it separate in your own mind, because you don’t want to tie that into each other, it affects you.”

It is important for Gordon to keep his passion for the game burning. After this season, if he gets his new contract with the Bulls, he will be expected to be the Bulls’ second star until they make a major acquisition.

“The ultimate goal of basketball is to stop the opponent from scoring and you score more than the opponent,” Hunter said, “I tell kids from grade school until you’re in the NBA, it will always be basketball, it will always be a game, and it will always be something that if you love it, you have fun doing it.”

You can listen to this interview online, exclusively at Bulls.com.

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